Oliver Drennan talks with James Moses Black

James Moses Black co-stars as rogue cop Deacon Brown, opposite Naomie Harris and Frank Grillo in director Deon Taylor’s upcoming crime drama, Black and Blue from Screen Gems.

James also portrays a U.S. Army colonel developing mutant fighting machines in Amazon’s upcoming Operation 8888 series.

James also recently recurred as Reverend Hawley, a neighborhood preacher/counselor who inspires Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown) to continue his run for office in NBC’s wildly popular This is Us series, he was Sasha the henchman to Richard Dreyfuss’ character in director/star Cuba Gooding’s drama, Bayou Caviar, and he was Coach Oz in writer/director Eric Champnella’s sports drama, Alex and Me.

Black later won the role of Boggs, the creepy convict in the play adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption, before departing for San Francisco, where he studied at the American Conservatory Theater.

He made his television debut in The Orlando Jones Show and hasn’t stopped working since. Recent highlights include Roots (as Kizzy’s adversary, Pastor Benjamin Lyon); Nashville, as Pastor Lewis (he was happy to bring an African-American dimension to the predominantly white world of country music.), 24: Legacy, Greenleaf, NCIS: New Orleans and Cold Case, in which he played Gerald Carter, Michael B. Jordan’s father.

His addition television credits include: The Practice, The King of Queens, Gilmore Girls, JAG, The Unit, Ugly Betty, Entourage, Dexter, Life, Southland, Shameless, Sons of Anarchy, Criminal Minds, and Grey’s Anatomy.

Black made his feature film debut as a CONTROL prison guard in Get Smart. His additional feature credits include: Logan, Heart, Baby, 68 Kill, Carter & June, Dark Meridian, Remembering Phil, Pimpin’ Pee Wee, Frogtown, Bad Ass 3: Bad Asses on the Bayou, Get Hard, Terminator Genisys, The Runner, American Ultra, Midnight Special, and the upcoming features Sex Guaranteed, Mind Puppets, Cut Off and Blackline: The Beirut Contract.

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